


Maybe things will be better after coffee

by Jenevieve



Series: Peter Nureyev and a petulant (ex) detective [2]
Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Other, Peter/Juno is background/implied, Rita is Fucking Scary when she wants to be and I love her for it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-06
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2021-02-18 07:28:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21690700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jenevieve/pseuds/Jenevieve
Summary: In which Nureyev ponders his choice of names, has a sad cup of tea, and is confronted by the most dangerous threat of his life
Relationships: Peter Nureyev/Juno Steel
Series: Peter Nureyev and a petulant (ex) detective [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1563607
Comments: 9
Kudos: 112





	Maybe things will be better after coffee

**Author's Note:**

> _Technically_ canon compliant....for now.

The universe has a strange sense of humor.

I do not, in fact, see him the next morning.

I woke far later than I usually do, however the lack of sleep the night before, and if I’m being honest, for at least several days before that as well, have finally caught up with me. I lingered in my warm bed, my cabin still dim, and enjoyed the sensation of not having to rush to get up - the novelty of a safe place to relax, where I don’t have to wear a character as a mask - or at least, not much of one. I knew that as soon as I set foot outside my cabin I would have to resume my role as Peter Ransom.

The name sits uneasy in my mind. I chose the name in a fit of...something, a callback to my earliest days of thieving, just me against the world. Only it wasn’t just me, and every time someone calls me “Ransom” I’m struck by the memory of the person who gave me that name, and the first time I felt blood on my hands. A very distant, quiet part of me wonders if I chose the name on purpose, knowing the effect it was going to have on me, the constant reminder of guilt and loss. The rest of me pushes that thought away. But I can not file it away completely so long as it remains my name.

I was taken completely by surprise by my reaction to Juno using my chosen alias. I’ve always switched between names and personalities so effortlessly, I’ve never had trouble remembering who I was to any particular person, never forgot a name or a character trait. I think I was secretly hoping that he’d stumble, a constant reminder that he was no longer welcome to use the gift of my real name. But Juno has always refused to be what I expected, and aside from the one awkward moment when he first came aboard and I could see him hesitating on what to call me, he hadn’t slipped up once. It is I who am constantly off balance. “Ransom” sounds so very wrong coming from his lips, in a way that none of my other aliases ever have. He’s called me Glass and Rose and Dauphin, and all felt right in the moment, but the instant he calls me Ransom my mind rejects it and it takes a moment to realize he’s talking to  _ me _ . When he spoke my name again last night, my  _ real _ name for the first time since he left me on Mars so many months ago, it was...well. I needn't have been worried about him giving away my name to the others, I realize; I should be worried about my _ self.  _ Although Buddy at least already knows I’m not using my real name, so it follows that the others are aware as well, as if Rita’s question at the family meeting wasn’t enough of a giveaway.

The vague thought of telling the rest of the crew my name drifted across my mind before I hastily stuffed it away, resolving to  _ never _ consider it again.

I rolled over and buried my head in the pillow. Perhaps if I stay there long enough all my problems will disappear.

They won’t. I’ve tried it before. But that doesn’t stop me.

My stomach eventually demanded that I get up and find food. I had no idea what time it actually was until I get out of the shower and put on my glasses, only to find was closer to lunch than breakfast. Ah well, Peter Ransom doesn’t need to be an early riser at the moment. I made my way from my cabin to the ship’s kitchen - I’m given to understand they are usually referred to as the “mess” but Buddy prefers the more...homey sound of kitchen, so there we are. I was more than half hoping to find my charming ex-detective there, lingering over coffee, so we could perhaps continue our conversation from the night before, but Rita is the only one in sight. She is perched at the table, comms in front of her, doing something incomprehensible to a dizzying stream of code. I nodded a greeting as I headed for the water kettle.

“There’s still coffee in the pot, if that’s whacha afta,” she says without lifting her head.

Nureyev  _ loves  _ coffee, but Ransom drinks tea, so that’s what I poured. What was I thinking, settling in for a long job and denying myself coffee? Surely I can keep up the character, tea has caffeine, but oh, I do miss my coffee. After starting the tea steeping, I turn to the question of food. Fortunately I haven’t given Ransom any particular tastes in food so I was free to eat what I liked. Not that there was much to choose from. I opened the fridge and peered inside. I wasn’t on board for dinner yesterday, Juno and I had already been in line for Nova’s party by the time the rest of the crew would have been eating. Perhaps I could find leftovers? But no such luck. It seemed that everyone on board has a healthy appetite, and all I saw was a container full of what can only be described as “dubious”. I was not hungry enough to open it and find out what it was. What else? Toast? Well, in the absence of anything else edible, toast would do. I checked the fridge for something to put on it, jam, butter, honestly anything at all. No luck. That was one of the saddest refrigerators I had ever seen. I was about to start in on my dry, plain toast, when Rita came to my rescue.

“There’s a spread in the cupboard to ya left, if you want something on that,” she said, gesturing. She had orange tinted crumbs all over her right hand and I saw the empty bag of snacks on the table next to her. Her left hand however, was perfectly clean and she appeared to be typing faster one handed than I could with two. I blinked, and remembered to respond.

“Ah, thank you. Dare I ask what flavor the spread is?” I asked as I opened the cupboard door.

“Salmon, of course!” She chirped happily and I almost let the door slam shut again. Fortunately I had seen the jar before she spoke and to my utmost relief it was ordinary nut butter. Good enough. “Good one,” I said as I brought my plate to the table, “you almost had me there.” I sat, only then remembering my tea steeping on the counter. I got up again to go rescue it, but a sniff confirmed it had already been long enough for it to go lightly bitter. I sighed. “Is it too much to hope for milk, or sugar for the tea?”

“‘Fraid so, there really isn’t much food at all on board right now. Last night we all had takeout while waitin’ on you guys, and we finished all that already.”

“You didn’t save us  _ anything?” _

“Nope, sorry! Mista Juno said the same thing. But there should be food later, Captain Buddy and Mista Juno and Mista Jet all went shopping. Not the fun kind, the supplies kind. Captain Buddy said if Mista Juno was gonna complain about the food then he was gonna help out in the kitchen, and  _ he  _ said he could only do that if there was actually food to cook, and really, he should have seen that one coming. So they’re all out now, but they should be back by dinner time.”

“Ah, well, at least there’s tea for now, I suppose.”

So Juno is going to be cooking. Better him than me, honestly toast is probably about the extent of my cooking prowess as it is. I sat down again and started in on my rather sad little breakfast. I picked up my tea and tasted it, put it down again. The toast looked about equally as tempting, but I was hungry enough that I actually didn’t mind all that much. Rita continued whatever she was working on, never looking away from her comms. The text flowed by so fast that I wondered how she could possibly keep up with it - she wasn’t watching one of her streams, this looked to be raw data. I was about to ask what she was working on when she spoke first.

“How come ya drink tea, if you don’t actually like it all that much?”

“What?” I laughed lightly, picked up my tea and took a sip to cover and barely kept from making a face at the bitter tang of oversteeped leaves. I glanced at Rita, hoping she hadn’t noticed, only to find her staring right at me. Oops.

“What makes you think I don’t like tea? Perhaps I simply don’t care for this blend?”

“Nah, you looked at all the boxes in the cupboard, and there’s at least three with caffeine, and you picked the one with the fanciest label instead of reading the ingredients. But you didn’t steep it the right time, and you asked for milk and sugar. If you really liked tea, any tea really, you’d already know how long to let it sit. And there’s coffee made but you didn’t pour yourself any, but you did look at the pot after tasting your tea the first time, so really, anyone could tell.”

“...are you sure you’re not a detective too?” I was rattled, though I hoped it didn’t show too badly. I had played my persona so badly that Rita saw through it in a second.

“Nah, I’m just Rita! But I am pretty observant, it comes from watching my streams, ya know? They usually give you all the clues waaaay early and then try an’ surprise ya later in the series, but if you’re good you can figure it out first! Like that time in ‘Endless Love by the Sea’ when the ship got lost and they found an uncharted island with a village where no one seemed to speak their language, except for one lady who told them she was their healer and knew their language from books she’d traded other ships! Except! The village is bein’ all nice to the sailors and treatin’ them to dinner and flirting with them and everything, and the captain is gettin’ all cozy with the healer lady, when she accidentally finds a bunch of ship’s logs in the healer’s cabin! From ships that’d gone missing over the last  _ hundred years _ or so! And they played this out over a bunch of episodes until the big reveal!  _ They’re all mermaids! _ And they come up to land once every year to find mates, and then after, they  _ kill em’! _ Except I figured it out by the third episode ya know? It was obvious! Just like it was obvious that the healer lady was actually fallin’ in love with the captain, and was gonna talk her people into  _ not _ killing them all this time, but that’s when the captain found the ship’s logs, and then- are you actually still listenin’’? Usually Mista Juno cuts me off before I can get to the really good stuff. I can figure out the plots reeeal quick but he’s even faster, if he’s payin’ attention at least.”

“...I, yes, I was still listening. And I honestly have no idea how you got from tea to mermaids, but I’m not sure I want to know.”

“I was  _ sayin’ _ that I ain’t as dumb as some people think. Just ‘cause I like my shows doesn’t mean I ain’t smart. Who do you think kept Mista Steel alive this long, huh?”

And this time when I looked at her, she was not just looking at me over her code, she’d actually shut the comms down and was giving me her complete and undivided attention. That was even more unsettling than her earlier one handed typing. I suppressed a shiver.

“The Boss and I go  _ way _ back, and he hasn’t always been the best at takin’ care of himself. I’m real good at figurin’ out if his friends are actually nice people or not, ‘cause he ain’t so good at that sometimes.”

“Ah. Well, he’s certainly very lucky to have you around, then.” I gave her a quick smile as I finished my last piece of toast before I hurriedly stood and moved to the sink so I didn’t have to see her staring at me anymore. She spoke while I was rinsing my plate and cup and as soft as her voice was, I heard her perfectly.

“I still haven’t forgotten what you did, you know.”

I shut off the water and placed the dishes in the rack “...I’m afraid that you’ll have to refresh my memory?” I didn’t turn around. I didn’t want to see her looking at me, seeing more than I wanted to let on.

“I know the Boss was real grouchy after that case with Rex Glass. Real twitchy too. Like he kept expectin’ to see someone, only they was never there.”

Ah. I had wondered if she was going to bring this up. I took a breath as I gripped the counter to keep my fingers from twitching. I tried to figure out what to say, but she wasn’t finished yet.

“And then when he disappeared…” Her voice wobbled for a second before steadying. “He wasn’t doin’ real good  _ before _ he vanished for two weeks and came back missin’ an eye, so I don’t think I’m exaggeratin’ here when I tell you he came back pretty messed up in the head. I’ve only seen him that bad once before, and this was worse. It took months before he would tell me  _ anythin’ _ and longer for him to start relaxin’ again. And I want you to know that the only reason I didn’t recognize you sooner that day was that I was real busy planning his birthday, else I’d’ve remembered you right away. You’re real clever by the way, I couldn’t get a clear shot of your face on any of the cams around my apartment. I didn’t need them though, I got your fake Dark Matters profile and went from there.”

My hand slipped from the counter and I turned around trying to cover, aiming for casual, and crossed my arms. I didn’t like where this was going. “Well, as you said, it was a fake profile. Not much there to go on, now is there?” I arched one eyebrow but Rita had already gone back to looking at her comms, for which I should have been grateful, but somehow I think this might have been worse. She continued as if I hadn’t spoken.

“You brought the Boss flowers on his birthday, and that was real sweet, let me tell you. He kept them for weeks! But I think there was something else that happened, and I think you was involved when he was missin’ those two weeks. And I don’t know exactly what happened and I’m  _ not  _ askin’ you to tell me - but I am lettin’ you know that I’m keeping a real close eye on you. The Boss doesn’t have many friends and the ones he does have he’s willin’ to die for, so you’ll understand my wantin’ to be cautious. I’ve seen the way he looks at you.”

She looked up and gave me possibly the scariest look I’ve ever been on the receiving end of in my life, and I’ve faced down some of the toughest names in crime. “And I’ve seen the way you look at him. You hurt the lady again, and you’re done. I got enough info on you now, your picture and your names,  _ all of ‘em _ , and one wrong word from you and they’ll be on the front page of every news site in the system before you can say ‘My name isn’t Peter Nureyev’,  _ understand me?” _

I was speechless because I  _ know _ she’s telling the truth, and I know Juno wouldn’t have told her, which means she found out some other way and I am  _ screwed. _ First Buddy, now Rita. And Rita scares me  _ far _ more than Buddy. The worst she’d do is drop me off at the next planet. The worst Rita could do… Well. I was still staring, mouth slightly ajar, completely at a loss for words. I was only saved from having to answer by Vespa appearing in the door, and I’ve honestly never been happier to see her scowling face. 

“You two, quit the chit chat, and come with me. Captain’s orders.”

“You got it!” Rita was back to her cheerful self, smiling happily as she shut down her comms and cleaned up the crumbs from her snacks before bouncing out the door. I remained where I was for another moment, still reeling from Rita’s threats and revelations when Vespa’s voice echoed down the hall. “Hurry it up Ransom, we haven’t got all day!”

“Coming!” I pushed off the counter and pulled myself together. Straightened my shirt, adjusted my glasses, smoothed my hair. Deep breath in and out. Peter Ransom walked out of the kitchen and headed down the hall after Vespa and Rita.

**Author's Note:**

> I am still in Grad School, I still Do Not Have Time to Be Writing, but apparently Nureyev won't leave me alone. I wrote 90% of this in my last class of the semester, and finished it off instead of working on one of the three (3) final projects I have due next week. Oops?
> 
> Un-bata'd, so if you spot typos please don't hesitate to let me know!


End file.
